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Posted July 28, 2017 08:31 pm - Updated July 28, 2017 08:37 pm

Letter to editor: ‘Bathroom bill’ exercise in bigotry

‘Bathroom bill’ exercise in bigotry

I am 70 years old and have been using school and public rest rooms — unprotected and unchaperoned — since I was 6. In those 63 years I have never been molested while in the bathroom, nor have I felt the need to ask other women waiting in line to show their birth certificates in order to confirm their right to use the facilities.

I am sure that I have used those facilities in company with transgender people, who compose a tiny percentage of the population, but the thought does not bother me at all.

Let’s name the “bathroom bill” being forced on the special session by Dan Patrick what it actually is — an exercise in bigotry. The bill is unenforceable. It targets a vulnerable population already suffering from discrimination, violence and a high rate of suicide. It does nothing to “protect” me or any other woman. If it is passed, it will expose our state to boycotts and ridicule, which Texas will richly deserve.

The “bathroom bill” is a cynical effort to gain political points with the most conservative element in the Republican party and to win votes in the next primary. That is all it is — and nothing more.